Walk Through the Fire
by BriNicole6
Summary: Main character is Sage [strik gona little warrior]. She's one of the 100. Sage and Roan meet on several occasions and immediately are attracted to each other. They develop feelings for each other, but circumstances get in the way. There's lots of pining and unresolved sexual tension. Also, they have a thing for meeting at bodies of water :) I do not own the 100 plot and characters.
1. Chapter 1: Home Earth

**Inspired by the song Walk Through the Fire by Zayde Wølf feat. Ruelle**

 ** _Summary_**

 **"Did we take too many changes?**

 **Or did we let too many pass us**

 **Did we throw it all away?**

 **Did we throw it all away?"**

 **Main character is Sage [strik gona= little warrior]. She's one of the 100. Sage and Roan meet on several occasions and immediately are attracted to each other. They develop feelings for each other, but circumstances get in the way. There's lots of pining and unresolved sexual tension. Also, they have a thing for meeting at bodies of water :)**

Green. Everywhere. Fresh trees and pine. I never thought'd smell these things. But here we are. The 100. On earth, after 97 years since the nuclear apocalypse decimated the Earth. I see Octavia her arms in the air and yell, "WE'RE BACK BITCHES!" I laughed and like everyone else, ran out into the forest to explore our new home. Octavia runs up to me and hugs me. "We made it Sage!" I smile wide and respond, "Yeah we did." And we take off following everyone.

We've been walking for about 10 minutes. I take notice of the birds chirping, the tall trees, the clear blue sky, and the sun that feels so good on my skin. I hear sets of foots approaching us.

"Hey guys! You wanna check out the river we just saw?"

We turn around and see a tall scrawny kid with goggles and a short kid beside him. The scrawny one says, "I'm Jasper and this is Monty." Monty waves and says, "Hey." Octavia smiles, "I'm Octavia."

Jasper says, "Yeah we know. Nobody forgets the 2nd sibling who lived under the floor."  
I speak up, "I'm Sage."

Monty says, "Ah, like the herb." "Yeah."

Jasper says, "Monty's family grows all the pharmaceuticals on the Ark."

Octavia impatiently yells, "Are we going to continue to talk about the Ark or we going to the river?" We all grinned at each other. "Lead the way boys."

All of a sudden, we hear "Hey wait up!" It's Finn and Clarke. "Did we just hear you're going to a river?" I say "yeah."

"We're coming."

Octavia says, "Let's move."

A few minutes after we were started walking, Finn dropped behind a big rock: "Guys look!" We duck behind the rock to and spot a deer eating grass a few meters away. It was mesmerizing seeing an animal. Completely surreal, yet realistic compared to the pictures of animals. Finn stands up to take a step and when he does, twigs snap and the deer turns its head towards us and jump back. All the animals we've seen in pictures had a single, normal head. This deer had two heads attached at the sides. It ran off as soon as it saw us. We all look at each other, taking deep breaths. Jasper said, "Let's just go, we're almost there."

Soon enough we saw a huge river that separated our side with an even more huge mountain. I say, "Wow." Octavia goes to the edge of a cliff and starts taking her clothes off. Jasper gawking at O, "Damn, I love earth." Clarke, the prude, yells, "Octavia what the hell are you doing?!" O's just smiled and said, "Going for a dip," and jumps into the river. The crest of run toward the water to see her standing in the river. Clarke states, "Octavia we don't know what's in the water." Finn says, "Clarke." "There's not supposed to be a river here." "Yeah, well there is, so take your damn clothes off." As we're taking our clothes off, Jasper yells, "Octavia get out of the water!" We divert our eyes, and see that there a big long creature heading swiftly to Octavia. We all yell, telling her to hurry and get out. But the big creature bit into O's leg and dragged her through the river. Jasper and Monty run down to the shore while Clarke, Finn, and I push a rock off the cliff we were on so that it'd plunge into the water and distract the creature. When the rock plunged, it let go of Octavia and Jasper ran into the river to help her to shore. Clarke rushed to check her injured thigh, and I knelt down to hold Octavia head in my lap. "O, thank god!" She giggled and turned her head to Jasper and took his hand, "Thank you." Monty says, "Note to self, next time, save the girl." We all laugh and proceed to leave. O's having a hard time walking, so I say, "Maybe we should stop and rest for the night. It's late and we have a while to go before we're back at camp. I don't think O can make it that far. Finn looks around us, "Okay. Why don't we stay in the field up ahead?" We make our way over and lay down. As exciting as finally being on Earth is we were all beat. We talked for a while for falling asleep.

A couple hours later I wake up and see neon blue. I think 'what the hell,' and rub the sleep off my eyes. I see that the area around us is light up in blue luminescence. It was an unimaginable sight. I get up looking to see if the others are awake, which they weren't. I walked around. The plants and flowers that beautifully lit up brought a big smile to my face. I picked up a flower that smelled so sweet. I brought the strands of hair next my ear behind it and put the flower there too. I laughed and realized that I was thirsty so I decided to go back to the river get drink some water.

I made it to the river and knelt down to use my hands to scoop some water. It tasted good, and felt good to drink real water from than earth instead of water produced in space. I heard a twig snap and jumped back. I looked around and saw nothing. I thought it might have been one of the guys checking to see if I was here since I left them back at the field. I yelled, "Finn, Jasper!" No answer. 'Maybe it was just a deer.' I returned to drinking the water. But I heard twigs snap and again, and footsteps. "Clarke?!...Finn?!" Still, no answer. My stomach dropped and I began to get scared. I rose up from the ground and turned around. I saw a tall, brown-haired man standing a couple feet away. He wore a fur coat and dark pants and leather boots. He also had white paint on his face, almost hiding two crescent scars on either side of his face. As I stood frozen, fear running through my body, the man stared at me like I was unusual. He spoke in a language I didn't understand. I didn't answer him because I was in shock that there's a survivor on the earth and looked like he was going to hurt me. He spoke again in a sort of aggressive tone, and I somehow gained enough courage to say "Uh, Hi. I…um…don't know what you're saying." His face filled with disbelief and shock.

"Who are you?"

"Sage."

"Sage." Said the man was testing out my name. I have to admit that although I'm frightened, I like the way my he says my name.

"Yes."

"Did you fall from the sky in that ship that landed?"

"Yes."

"How many of you are there?"

I hesitated to answer. As handsome as he is seemingly kind, something tells me that he's dangerous. He nods his head to the side making a curious, as if he's evaluating me. No doubt, seeing the fear on my face. He takes a step forward and I immediately take one back. The man smirked and was about to say something when I heard Finn shout my name. I snapped my head in the direction I heard Finn, and opened my mouth to yell back but thought about the man. I returned my face to look at the man, but he was gone. I looked around, seeing if I could spot him throughout the trees, but nothing.

Finn came out of the woods, running out of breath. "Hey, what are you doing out here alone?"

"I came to get some water. There was a guy out here. He disappeared when you called for me."

Finn gave me a disbelieving look. "Sage, the nuclear apocalypse destroyed the planet. Radiation made it impossible for survival too." I highly doubt there are survivors here.

"But I saw him…and talked to him."

"Maybe you're just tired and imagined him."

"I didn't imagine him! You know what, let's just go back to the others and get to the dropship." I stomp off angrily, not caring if Finn was behind me. I'm not stupid, I know the devastation of a nuclear power plants exploding and radiation would kill anybody. But I also know what I saw. We saw a two-headed dear for fucks sake. How is it so fucking hard to believe that I saw a normal human being. Stupid Finn. Instead of pushing the argument further I'm just kept my mouth shut. If I wasn't hallucinating things, then I highly doubt that man would be the only person on Earth besides the 100. We'll find out for sure eventually.


	2. Chapter 2: This is Our Thing

"What the hell are you doing?!"

I'm laying down in my tent with Octavia. Her leg is still healing from the bite. We were talking about what life will be like on the ground when we hear Clarke yelling.

"Hugh. What's the princess yelling about now?" I say to Octavia.

"I don't know, you know she's bossy."

"I'm gonna go check it out."

I get up and walk out of the tent. A group of people are gathered around a fire. Clarke in Bellamy's face, mad as hell.

"Step aside princess."

"Not until you stop taking the bracelets off!"

Annoyed, I say, "What the hell are you guys fighting about?"

Clarke looks at me, "They're taking people's bracelets off. They're the only way the Ark will know if we're alive. If we start taking them off they're going to think Earth is not survivable, and they'll die."

Murphy laughs, "Serves 'em right. They floated my old man for trying to save me when I was sick."

Bellamy assertively stands and looks at all of us as he speaks. "And when they come down here, it's going to be just like on the Ark. Punishing us for stupid things. Floating us for the simplest crimes. Controlling everything we do!"

Clarke, "They're our people! How could you not what them to come down. Our families, our friends, our doctors."

Bellamy, "My people are here. Those are _your_ people! The privileged! They'll have it good down here! While the rest of us suffer."

Everyone yells, "Yeah!"

I interject, "As much as we may or may not hate the people left on the Ark, we have to think about the bigger picture. Do you really think we can survive on our own for the rest of our lives? We have no leaders, no guards, no doctors, no farmers, engineers! Not to mention our families are up there, and so are the innocent kids who deserve a better chance at life than what we had on the Ark."

Bellamy, "Do not listen to them! We can survive on our own. Right?"

"YEAH!"

"And we what when we want! Whatever the hell we want!"

"YEAH!"

Bellamy looks at us with an arrogant, snide smile. I couldn't stand the sight of him. How could he want all those people to die?

He looks at Clarke, Finn, and I. "So, who's next?"

I huffed, "You're not touching us over our dead bodies."

"Speaking of dead bodies, that's what we're all going to be if we don't get more food. Why don't you three make yourselves useful and lead a hunting party; let the privileged do the work for a change."

I stood there in seething rage. "Well, I don't want to be around narcissistic idiots all day anyhow."

Murphy laughed. "And there she goes, all fire and…sage." And he continued laughing at unfunny joke. I gave him the middle finger I turned to my left and eyed a bunch of kids. "You six, you're coming with me." And I stomp my way out of the camp. I glanced back. Three of hunt for animals, the other three gathers fruits and nuts. Finn and Clark gathered some more people and split them up into groups. Clarke shouts, "Sage, you okay?" I wanted to scream no. I was annoyed because of Bellamy, Murphy, and anyone else who agreed with the idiocy and disregard for humanity. Instead I told her, "No. Look, I'm going to go take a beat for a while to calm down." They nodded. "We'll meet back at camp in a couple hours." I turned around and walked.

I've been hiking for almost two hours. So far there still more woods, but the view is great. There's a faraway mountain range that looks so...lifelike. I see a lake up ahead, and suddenly realize how thirsty I am. I make my over and drink a couple handfuls. I take a deep breath and look around. This area is actually pretty and quiet, which is why I took notice when I heard the sound of water swishing. My eyes pinpointed where the noise was coming from. The same man I saw the other day is now swimming in the lake. The sun is glistening on his bare back. Even from behind he looks godly. He turns his head slightly, now noticing me, and faces me. I couldn't help but look at the water beading that his perfectly sculpted chest and abs. My eyes make their way up to his face. Now that I see his scars without white paint covering them, they actually nice. Then there's his ice blue eyes. I could get lost in them forever. I come out of my mesmerization when he knowingly smiles. I immediately look into the trees, embarrassed. I hear more water moving, and when I look up the attractive man is making his way toward me. He stops, still in the water which just below his waist.

Nervous, I say "Hello."

"What are you doing out here alone?"

"Umm, sightseeing?"

"Hm."

I wait for him to say something else, but he doesn't. I can't believe how nervous this man makes me.

"So, what are you doing here?"

"Came to relax. I need a break from my people."

Shocked, "Your people?"

"Yes, people. You know, humans?" He smiles at me.

If it were anyone else, I'd come up with some smartass remark. But in this case, I can't help but appreciate his sass. "I know what people are. I just thought, we all thought, that there wouldn't be anyone alive when we came here."

He makes a disgruntled face. "And why is that?"

"Because of the nuclear explosion that destroyed the Earth."

He takes a few seconds, sorting what I said in his head. Then nods like he came to an understanding.

"Praimfaya. That's what we call it."

Trying out the word, "Praimfaya."

He nods.

"What language do you speak?"

"It's called Trigedasleng. Everyone speaks it here. Not many of us speak your language, but we know it."

Huh.

"You look exhausted. You should come in."

"Oh, I don't know about that."

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. Besides, this is our thing. We meet near water. And go back and forth."

I lightly roll my eyes and smirk. Study his eyes, I see that they're genuine. I remove my shirt, pants, socks, and boots. I look to him and he's eyeing my body. I give a small smile and walk into the lake. We walk deeper into the lake. The man grabs my arm looks over my body once more, and say "You're beautiful, you know that?"

Widening my smile, "You're not so bad yourself."

The man gave a gracious smile that generated warmth through my body. I smiled and a realization hit me: I don't even know his name.

"You never told me your name."

"Roan."

"Roan. I like it."

He nodded. "You've been asking all the questions. So, it's my turn. Why did you come here?"

"To survive. Our people were here before praimfaya, but left before the nuclear power plants exploded. We've lived in space for the past 97 years."

"Until now."

"Yeah, our government sent us down to see if the Earth was survivable. It is… obviously. Haha. [pause] We all thought we'd be alone here…but then I met you so…"

Roan's silently taking all the information in.

"I told my friend I saw you, but he didn't believe me. Said I was imagining you." I roll my eyes.

He smiles "Well I assure you, you definitely aren't."

He glances at me with a hesitant look, but then takes a step toward me and wraps a hand around my arm. Roan looks deep into my eyes, and I feel naked. I look back, and feel even more of an attraction to him. Sure, he was physically attractive. His eyes. Smile. Body. And his confident stride. But there was something…that just pulled me in. Made me want to know everything about him. His free hand reaches out to pull some strands of hair behind my ear, and slides his hand down to my face. We draw our heads slowly closer to each other. I can soon feel his breath on my lips. I grin and look into his blue eyes once more. He brings the hand on my arm to the other side of check, and caresses it. And god, his hand feels so nice on my body. I've never felt so vulnerable and horny in my life. He closes his eyes, leans his head to the side, and parts his lips. I do the same and meet his lips. They were soft, but firm. Roan works his tongue into my mouth; he's more aggressive. I sense that he's very dominant, which is what I like. I grab his hair and wrap my arm around his neck. Our kisses get deeper, forcing me to catch my breath. We're breathing each other's air in, and I drag my fingers from his neck down his chest. For the next few moments, it feels like it's just us, wrapped in each other.


	3. Chapter 3: Can't Trust Him

What was I doing? I'm making out with a guy I've met one other time. I have no idea who this Roan is. I break our kiss and forcibly remove myself away from him.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"I don't even know you."

Roan smiles, "We were just getting to know each other were we not?"

"For all I know you could be an axe murder!"

He laughed. "If I was going to kill you, I would have already sky girl."

"Whatever I'm leaving. I have to get back to my people." I get out of the lake and hurriedly put my clothes back on. I'm tying my boot strings when Roan grabs my arm.

"Look, I don't why you're upset, but would you at least meet me again?"

"No."

He angrily sighs. "We both know you're lying to yourself, so why don't you meet me here in two days, same time."

"Bye." I run away. I hear him yell, "I'll see you soon!"

I make my legs run faster until I see the camp. I'm almost to the entrance when Monty comes running out the dropship, up to me. "Hey where've you been all day?"

"Uh taking a hike, enjoying the sights."

He frowns.

"Monty what's wrong?"

"Some people from the hunting parting were attacked."

"What?!" We run into the dropship to find Jasper.

We climb up to the second floor. Jasper's on a table, pale and bloody. Atom, Roma, Drew, Mike, and Diggs were all in cots with stabs wounds and arrows in their bodies.

"Oh my god."

"Yeah. Two groups came back with food, and then a few two or three hours later they come back screaming for help, saying that they were attacked. Clarke, Octavia, Harper, and I have helping the wounded. Bellamy took a group to go look for you and three others who haven't returned. "

"Shit." I look at Jasper again. There's a bloody gaping hole in his abdomen. I stand beside Clarke. "Is he going to make it?"

"I don't know. He was hit with a huge spear. There's a lot of bleeding, but I'm doing everything I can. He seems to be doing okay for now."

I smile, relieved. I grab Jasper's hand. With a determined voice, "Jasper, Hey. If you can hear me, you better not die on us! We need you. Who else is going to make us laugh the way do you?" Those around him smile or laugh. I look around at the others. "What about the rest of them?"

"They're okay. But, Drew's septic and Diggs bleeding out too fast. They're probably going to die."

I sulk in disbelief and anger. I just can't believe this happened. One minute we were conquering the world, free of the confined and controlled space above. The next, we're dying, being picked off one at a time. We already lost two people who idiotically got out of their seats during landing and died. So now there's only 98 of us; 96 once Drew and Diggs succumb to their wounds. Bellamy, Finn, Murphy, Miller, and John Mbege came up through the floor. Octavia runs to her brothers and hugs him. "Thank god you're alive."

"Stephen, Ray and Natalie aren't. We found them with knives and arrows in their bodies."

We gather round. He sees. "Good to know you're still breathing."

I just nodded.

Murphy speaks, "So it looks like we're not alone."

Miller says, "No…we aren't."

Bellamy talks, "We need to find whoever did this."

Silence.

Bell continues "Our people we attacked. They need justice."

Murphy, "I agree." John nodded too.

Clarke speaks, "And how do you suppose we get justice. We have no idea who those people were. We don't even know how many of them there are."

Bellamy responds, "All I know is, somebody needs to answer for what's happened.

Octavia speaks up, "So what you're just going to go out and hunt them down. We just got here Bell, we have every disadvantage. And what if they attack again?"

Murphy proposes, "Then we'll be prepared. We should start training and build a wall around the camp."

Finn sighs and looks at me. "Guess I should have listened to when you said you saw someone.

Everyone paused and looked at me. Bellamy raised his eyebrows. "What's he talking about?"

I get nervous. "Nothing. I just saw someone the first day we got here. "

"Well why didn't you say anything?!"

I got angry, "Because spacewalker told me I was imagining things, so I kept my mouth shut! I figured if I was right, then we'll find out for sure eventually."

Miller, "We found out all right. Our people we attacked."

I get more angry and defensive. "How the hell was I supposed to know that was going to happen?!"

Bellamy, angry, "You should have said something! Our people are hurt. Five of them died today! It could have been whoever you saw!"

"It wasn't!"

"How would you know that?"

"Because I've been with him all day!"

There was a deafening silence. Bellamy and Murphy were angry at me. I at them. Mbege, Finn, Clarke, O, and Monty were shocked.

Bellamy, "Explain just what the hell that's supposed to mean."

"The first day we got here, I met him when I was at the river. We only spoke for like not even two minutes before Finn came, and he disappeared. I told Finn what happened, he said it was impossible because of the nuclear bombs. So, I left it alone. And then today, I was walking alone and saw him again. We talked for a few hours. Then I came back. They were attacked before I left him."

"But for all you know he could have known it was going to happen. He could have orchestrated it and distracted you so that his friends could attack us!"

I stay silent. I don't want to believe anything that comes out of Bellamy Blake's mouth. However, I couldn't help think that he may be right. I didn't know Roan. Was he using me? I mean the first day he asked me how many there were of us. Today he initiated our make our kiss, and got upset when I left which I assumed was because he wanted to continued our make out session. What if he was just distracting me so I wouldn't find out what happened until it was too late? Or what if he does have genuine feelings for me and kept me away from the attack because he knew it going down? But neither of these possibilities accounts for the fact that he was at the lake first. Anyone for 200 miles would've seen the dropship come down and knows the vicinity of the area we're in. But Roan couldn't have known that I was going to the lake; he was surprised to see me. Still, he could've known or planned the attack. One thing is for sure though: I can't trust him.


	4. Chapter 4: Fuck

It's been three weeks since we were attacked. Most of the injured, including Jasper, are doing well. The wall is finished at Bellamy's urgency. So far things have been calm. But of course, it can't stay that way. Octavia's gone missing.

"Calm down."

"No, I won't calm down! She my sister and she's missing! She could've been killed by grounders. You all saw what they did to our friends."

"It's Octavia. She's probably chasing butterflies."

"I know you may not care sense you're all best friends with that grounder, but if I find him he is going to pay!" He storms out of the dropship.

As irritated as I am, I still can't deny the possibility of Roan having some part of Octavia's disappearance or the attack on us. He's always around the area. Plus, we're new to the land. Since there are survivors, they can't be too happy about a spaceship flying down from the sky, full foreign people they don't know. I'd be mad for foreigners took my land and hunted my food. And besides all of that, Octavia's my best friend down here. I have to make sure she's okay.

I'm hastily walking outside as Bellamy as gathering a search party to look for Octavia. "We'll split up in groups to cover more ground. But be careful! It's dark out and they have the advantage of knowing the terrain. Everyone good with the plan?"

People nodded. "Let's move out!"

I start walking with everyone, but Bellamy halts me. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To go look for Octavia what's it look like?" I tried to move but he blocks me.

"You're staying here."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are! I'm not letting you go out there knowing you could die. O would kill me."

"But-"

"Dax, Connor make sure she doesn't leave this camp."

"Bellamy!"

It's for your own good. And I wouldn't want you doing something stupid like trying save your friend and let him go."

"Fuck you!"

He turns and runs out through the gate.

There's no way in hell I'm doing anything Bellamy says. On the ark, he was okay. Uptight, but that's because I knew about Octavia so of course he was. He helped me out with things. Gave good advice. He's like an overprotective big brother. But down here was such a dick which is unusual. I still can't get over the fact that he doesn't want the Ark to come here. You'd think with what he's lost, he'd be all about family and unity. Something's not right; he's hiding something. But don't have time to figure out, Octavia's missing. I look at these to numbnuds. {I don't know lol} I gather all the ferocity at my disposal. "If you two don't get out of my way, I'll hurt you."

"No chance."

"Okay. I warned you guys." I elbowed Connor in his face and kicked him down then punched Dax after he grabbed my arm and flipped him on his back. I catch my breath and look around everyone's looking at me. "Anyone else wanna stop me?" No answers, just stares. "Good." I run out in search for Octavia. Though if I'm being honest with myself, I'm also on the lookout for Roan so I could get some answers.

[Bellamy and the search party]

"Octavia!"

No responses. Everyone's been yelling her name for the past hour.

Bellamy has a bad feeling in his stomach, but nonetheless he's determined to find his sister. "My sister, my responsibility."

"Finn!" He catches up with Bellamy.

"So, have you seen anything out of the ordinary, do you think she's been taken?"

Finns the best tracker. Which in all honesty is surprising seeing as he's never been to Earth until recently.

"I saw some animal foot prints. There was one shoeprint, but I don't think it came from our people. The print doesn't match the bottom of our shoes."

A kid yells "Bellamy we found something!"

They all ran over to the kid. He picked up a bracelet and handed it to Bellamy.

Finn, "Is it hers."

Bellamy angrily responds, "Yeah. She's out here somewhere let's move quicker!"

Five minutes go by. There's still no sign of Octavia. All of a sudden Lisa gets shot in the head with an arrow. There are screams and people running to get away. But in the process Michael shots in the chest and falls down. Roma is speared in the stomach and is attached to a tree. Another kid is shot in the leg which slows him down. Mbege runs to help him out, but a second, fatal arrow is shot in the kids back. So, John had to leave him behind. Kelly and Steve trip a wire, and a long heavy piece of wood with spikes around it hanging from some type of wire or string comes swing down and spikes their chests. There's only six people left alive from the search party.

Bellamy, out of breath from running, "Everyone okay?"

A kid, "Hell no! We got to go back."

Bellamy grabs him by the shirt, "I am not going back. If my sister is still alive I'm going to find her. If you're too scared to stay then leave." He pushes he kid back. Silence. "Okay then, let's go."

[Sage]

It's dark out so it's hard to see with no light. I should've took a torch out with me. I've been screaming for O for the past 45 minutes. I get frustrated. I hear leaves moving and branches snapping. I twist my head around, and stood unmoving. Then I hear fast footsteps. I want to yell out, but if it's not one of us I don't want to giveaway my location. I stood still for almost 10 minutes, and there were no more sounds. I concluded that it was an animal. So, I resume walking slowly.

An arrow was released in my direction but didn't hit me. In a split second, I decide to run as fast as my feet can take me. I don't know how far I'm going or where I'm at, but I know I don't want to die. I need to catch my breath so I hid behind a tree. I'm breathing fast and loudly so I cover my mouth. I trying to deepen my breaths, calming my heart and lungs so I can hear and save energy for when I run again. Once I get my breathing under control. I look around. I rotate my body so that the facing the tree now. Slowly, I peek around the tree to see if anybody's coming. I see nothing, so I decide to move. I turn my head and a fist comes flying at my head and I'm knocked out.

Fuck.


	5. Chapter 5: Instincts

{Bellamy's group}

They spotted two sets of footprints. Bellamy said, "We're getting close." A kid named Sterling says, "Look at this." He points to a rock. It's covered in blood. They all get a bad feeling. Angry, Bellamy says, "If she's hurt or dead I'm gonna kill them." Finn says, "Maybe she's not dead. Back there were two. Octavia was one of them. But up ahead there's only one set, and they heavy. So, if she was dead then she'd still be here. I think whoever had the second prints carried her, and that's why the prints are heavy."

Bellamy thinks, "Okay. Let's follow the footprints."

{Sage}

I come back to consciousness, and feel a raging headache and groan. I open my eyes slowly and see a blurry figured. I blink my eyes a couple times so they'd adjust, and I see Roan sitting on a log watching me. Panic and fear course through my body. I back away from my position on the ground.

"Sage."

"Roan. What are doing? Why did you kidnap me?"

His eyes look betrayed. "You don't have to be afraid of me. I did just save your life."

"You knocked me unconsciousness and brought me to wherever the hell we are. That's kidnapping in my book."

"They were going to kill you; I couldn't let you die."

"Why?"

He looked down, contemplating what he was going to say. "Because I like you. You know that."

"No, I don't that. In fact, I don't know a lot of things. Like who took my best friend, and who attacked and killed my friends before."

"You know that wasn't me."

"How can I possibly be sure? The only thing I know for certain about you is that you've kidnapped me."

I can see that he's growing angry. He stands up. "If I wanted to kill you why aren't you tied up? Why did fix your wound? Why didn't I let you die? Why didn't I kill you the day we met, or at the lake?"

I think over what he said, and touch my forehead where there's a cut. The area hurts like yell, but he wasn't lying. I returned my focus on Roan and see that he's standing in front of me. Mad and waiting for an answer. With vigor, I say, "You could have saved me from those grounders so that you could use to find out information on us, so that you could kill the rest us."

"I'm not using you. And I didn't kill any of your people. I know about what happened, but I had nothing to do with it."

"Then who did?"

"Trikru."

"Who's that?"

"The Woods Clan. Here, people are separated into 12 clans with their own territories. You've landed on Trikru's territory. Obviously, they're not happy about it. They view you as a threat, as they should and is their right."

"So, they killed us because we're foreign invaders on their land?"

"Yes."

"What clan are you?"

"Azgeda. In your language, it translates to Ice Nation."

I'm a little shaken. I don't know if I should automatically take his word for everything. He could still be lying or omitting things. But it does make sense. And Ice _Nation_? Just how many people were here? My mind drifts back to Octavia. She's still missing, and of course I want to go look for her. But this is a chance to find out the truth. Besides, Bellamy took like half the camp so they'll find her eventually, right? As painful as it is I decide to stay and get some answers. "Fine." He turns his head up. "I'll hear what you have to say. I want to know everything. No lies, No secrets." He eyes me. "Okay." I reassuringly nodded to myself, and went around him to sit on the log. He turns around to what I can only assume is to sit next to me, but stops when I gave him a glare that tells him to keep his distance. He correctly interpreted it because he walked to the log across from me. The only thing between us is a fire. I take a deep breath. "So. What do you know about my friend going missing?"

{Bellamy's group}

Monroe crouched down on looking at something. "Hey I found something!" There's a metal gate. Bellamy yanks it open. "Pass the rope." Finn says, "We don't even know what's down there." "My sister." He climbs down and waves his torch to see inside. Finn, Sterling, and Jones climb down too while Monroe and another kid stay up. They proceed with caution further into the cave. They see a shadow moving, and prepare for attack. Bellamy rounds the corner, and Octavia comes swinging with a long piece of wood. Bellamy catches it in his hand and lets out a breath. He and Octavia smile and hugs each other. "Glad you're okay." "You too." They break their hug. Octavia smiles when she sees Jasper. She runs up and hugs him. "How did you find me?" Jasper smiled and said, "Followed him," and pointed to the grounder on unconsciousness on the ground. Bellamy grabs a spear from against a wall and got into position to kill the grounder. Octavia frowned, "Bell no! Let's go." "He is not getting away with this." "He didn't hurt let's just go!" "They started this." Finn bends down to touch something on the grounder. "He pipes up a pipe shaped horn. "Fog horn?" Next thing they know the grounder stabs Finn, he kicks Bellamy who falls on the ground. He gets up, grabs a spear, and tries to stab Bellamy in the neck. Bellamy is using all his force keep the spear from going into him. Octavia screams, "Stop that's my brother!" Jasper uses another spear to hit the grounder in his back. He falls down and is unconscious again. Octavia again, "LET'S GO NOW!" Bellamy and Jasper grab Finn and all them make out the exit and got back to camp as fast as they could.

{Sage}

"Just so I'm getting everything clearly, you're a bounty hunter because you are banished from your clan—Ice Nation. The queen, your mother, banished you because she was mad that you didn't want to follow her orders and lead the life of the Prince the way she wanted."

"Yes."

"You've been in Trikru territory because you're searching for a target. And the day we met, you thought you closed in on them, but saw me instead. And the grounders who attacked my friends the day we went hunting were Trikru warriors. You only found out about it when you overheard them bragging at a trading post."

Roan nodded.

"Tonight, you overhead talk that they were going to come at us again, and [sarcastically] out of the goodness of your heart, you followed them to make sure I would be okay. Because you _allegedly_ have feelings for me. And when you saw them trying to kill me, you knocked me out and took me here. To protect me. Instead of just killing them because it would start a clash between Trikru and Azgeda who are enemies of each other."

He nodded again.

"Lastly, if my friends haven't found her yet, Octavia was probably taken or killed by Trikru warriors as well."

"Yes."

Sarcastically, "Great." I get up and start to walk out.

He grabs my arm. "What are doing?"

"I'm going back to camp to see if she's there. If she's not then I'm looking for."

"No, you're not. I just saved your life. They aren't just going to give up on killing all of you. I'm not letting you go just to get killed."

"I can handle myself."

"Clearly."

I cross my arms and glower at him. He does the same and we're emerged in a standoff. "Hmph" I'm not backing down. Almost a minute goes by, and I'm proud of myself for resisting all his sexy and dominance. But then I sneeze. He smiles and snidely says, "I win."

"Oh whatever. Let's just go."

"You're sexy when you're mad you know that?"

I've had it.

"Listen up! We met. We talked. We made out. It was a moment of weakness, nothing more. Now get your head out of your dick so you can be on the lookout for grounders as you escort me to the dropship. I don't like getting shot at much Roan, Prince of Azgeda. So put your focus on my safety and not my ass. Because you're aren't getting it!" I stomp away, but hear him chuckle and follow behind.

An hour goes by. We're 15 minutes from the dropship. We start slowing up. I glance back at Roan and he's looking at me with an indignant look at on his face. I wasn't going to acknowledge him, but stopped and faced him. 'What is it Roan?"

He puts his hands on his sides. "Do you really not know what I want to ask you?"

I shrugged and raised my eyebrows.

"Sage. Why didn't you meet me at the lake when I asked you to?"

I knew exactly why. "I…didn't trust you."

He scowls. "Why?"

"Because my friends were killed. You were the only person who seemed to be around. So, I couldn't trust you. And if I'm being honest with myself I still don't. At least not completely."

I can tell he's upset. He just nods. Part of me feels bad, but for the most part my instincts tell me it's the right thing to do. Not trust him completely.

I look in his eyes once more and turn to leave him. I've taken a couple of steps.

"What do I have to do?"

I halt but don't turn around. For a couple seconds, I stay silent. "What do you mean?"

I hear him stepping toward me. "I mean—How do I get you to trust me?"

"You can always start with the truth."

"Okay.

I step.

"Meet me. For real this time. I'll tell you anything you want to know."

I should say no. "Fine." With that I walk away.

"The lake. Two days-time. At first light!"

I wave my hand and keep walking. I see the gate and Octavia and Bellamy arguing. I run up to Octavia and bear hug her. "Octavia I'm glad you're okay!" She hugs me back tightly.

Bellamy- "Just where the hell have you been? I told you not leave this camp! I'm gonna kill Dax and Connor."

"I wasn't just going to sit here and not look for her! I didn't think-"

"That's the problem neither of you think! You could have gotten yourself killed, and you [Octavia] That grounder wanted to kill you, O!" "But he saved my life! The spear that hit Roma was supposed to hit me." "No, O! I saved your life! For all you know he could've been using you as bait for one of his traps. They killed three of our people _today_. If you'd let me kill him when I had the chance Finn wouldn't be in there dying right now!"

"WHAT!"

Octavia gets angry. "Stop. Stop blaming for your mistakes! What happened to Finn is not my fault. I wanted to leave, so if Finn dies in there, that's on you! Everything that's gone wrong is because of you!"

"Guys!"

"You got me locked up on the ark. You wanted me to go to that stupid dance. You got mom killed!"

"Seriously stop!" I was worried. I know siblings fight but I didn't want them to say things they'll regret.

Bellamy smiles. I can tell that's he's hurt and mad though. "Me? Mom was floated for having you. She's dead because you're alive. That was her choice; I didn't have a choice. My life ended the day you were born."

Octavia and I looked at him in shock. Octavia turns to leave, but Bellamy gets a hold of her forearm. "Where do you think you're going?"

She looks at him. "You can't keep me locked in here forever." She snatches her arm away and walks into the dropship."

I look at Bellamy. "That was low and you know it."

He looks at me. "There's a storm coming. Just get inside and help Clarke with Finn." He closes the gate.

I roll my eyes and run inside.

Finn has a knife in his side. It looks deep. "Clarke do you think you can fix him?"

Frustrated, she answered me, "I don't know, I-I need my mother."

Jasper- "Monty thinks he can get the radio working."

"Well tell him to hurry up."

Monty jumps down the ladder from the second level. "No need to I got it working. Abby's on the line."

"Mom!"

"Clarke are you there?"

"Yeah I'm here. Listen Mom I need your help. Finn was stabbed and the knife is still in there, but if I don't hurry he's going die soon."

"Okay talk me and Jackson through his injuries."

Clark does that and When Abby and Jackson evaluate the best way to remove the knife, they tell Clarke to remove to slowly at an upward angle, and that she only has a few centimeters of wiggle room before the knife penetrates his lungs. I hold Finn down by his shoulders since he's conscious and in pain. Clarke's almost got the blade out but the storm shook the dropship really bad and Clarke yanked the blade out on her fall to the ground. "Oh my god, Clarke." We get up to check the wound. Blood's pulsating out, but at a normal rate. He's in the clear; he just needs the wound stitched and closed. I help Clarke and by the time we're done, Finn is pale and warm. Clarke agrees and mentions his breathing's uneven. Abby says it's just from blood loss, but wait and see if there are any new changes. A thought runs through my mind: why is it whenever I'm with Roan, people get hurt or killed?

I'm cleaning the bloody utensils and rags when I hear a bunch of "Oh my gods." Then someone says loudly, "Is that a grounder?" My heart sank. They've got Roan. I drop the utensils on the table and move through the crowd. Bellamy and four others come in from the storm. I see the other four are holding a tied up a grounder with a beaten face and a scarf around his eyes. I thank god it wasn't Roan; I may not trust him, but I don't actually want him hurt or worse. "Bellamy." I ran up to him, and looked at the grounder. "Is that the one who took Octavia?" "Yeah. [At the four holding him] Go put him upstairs and restrain him."

Octavia- "The hell are you doing?"

"Getting some answers."

"You mean revenge."

"I mean intel."

Abby comes over the radio asking for Clarke. Bellamy gets this scared look on his face. What the hell is that about?

Clarke- "Finns alright for now. Look this is not who we are."

Abby- "Clarke?"

Bellamy- "It is now." He climbs upstairs.

Clarke returns to the radio. I tap Octavia's shoulder. "Hey you okay?"

She shrugs, "It's whatever."

"It's going to be okay."

"Sage."

I walked to Clarke. "I'm going to check on Bellamy. stay and watch him, yell if you need me."

"Okay." I feel Finn's forehead and he's definitely having a fever.

Only a minute has passed before Finn starts having a seizure. "Clarke he's seizing!" She speeds down. "Get my mother on the radio now!" "Radio's dead-interference from the storm." "Help me flip him on his side." We do and there is white fluid substance coming out of Finn's mouth. "Does this mean the knife perforated something?" "I don't know, I need my mother! I did everything she said." I think about all of Finn's symptoms: fever, seizure, white foam, uneven breathing. It hits me. "Clarke it's poison." "What?" "All of the symptoms fit." "We sterilized everything." "Everything but the blade." Clarke gets this furious look in her eyes. She grabs the blade off the tray and climbed upstairs. Octavia follows her.

I hear her yelling. Asking the grounder what he put on the blade and which antidote it is. I decided the climb up the stairs. Bellamy was yelling at the grounder to them which antidote would save Finn. "Clarke, he doesn't have a lot of time. If it reaches his heart he's dead." Bellamy grabs an object with a nail attached to it. "Just tell us which one it is!" No answer. Bellamy jams the nail through his hand and the grounder grunts in pain. Octavia yells "Stop hurting him!" Bellamy responds, "He wants Finn to die! Don't you get that?!" Octavia grabs a random' blade and cuts her arm. "He won't let me die. Which is it? Please?" The grounder still didn't say anything, but had a concerning look toward Octavia. She bent down and pointed the blade at an antidote. "Is this it?" No answer. "Come on please!" Nothing. She pointed the blade at another antidote. "What about this one?" He nodded his up upward. She picked it up. "This one?" He nodded again. Octavia gave the antidote to Clarke and we went downstairs to Finn. She fed it to him and said we'll have to wait until he wakes up to know if it works. I said okay, and stayed with Finn while Clarke went outside to talk to Bellamy.

He wakes up a couple hours later. "Hey Finn. You're alive." I smile at him.

"Good to know." He coughed. I gave him some water.

"I'll let Clarke know you're awake." I walked out and told Clarke who ran inside.

I was tired. This day has exhausted me. All I wanted to do was eat something and go to sleep. Unfortunately, the storm did some damage to the camp outside so we spend a good amount of time fixing and cleaning everything up. Some guys started a fire and roasted a deer from the smokehouse. I ate some dinner and went into my tent. I lie on my back trying to let sleep take me, but then Octavia comes in grabs a blanket and pillow and lies next to me. She doesn't say anything, but I know she's upset.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

[pause]

"You want to tell me what happened with you and the grounder? He seemed to care an awful lot when you cut your arm. Seemed worried."

"I was walking through the woods and fell. I hurt my leg and could barely walk. He picked me up and took me to his home. I thought he was going to kill me, but he actually bandaged my leg, gave me food and water. He didn't talk, but He was nice I guess."

I nodded and waited for her to continue.

"I actually got away while he was out. I was running and heard girl shout. I stopped for a few seconds and he grabbed me, muffled my mouth with his hand, and pulled me behind a tree. Then I saw Roma running. I wanted to scream out, but then a spear went flying through the air and killed her." I made a saddened frown. Roma was pretty cool. She made up these awesome stories of what Earth would be like. She didn't deserve to have her life ended so soon. "He carried me back to his home since I couldn't walk. He chained me up. I found a piece a wood and hid it in front of me. So when he came behind, I turned around we hit him on the head twice, knocked him out. I got the key for the chains and unlocked my myself. I heard someone coming, assumed it was his friend(s) so I grabbed a club and waited until they got closer. I was swing it, but Bellamy caught it. It was them. They saved me, but not before the grounder stabbed Finn with the blade. Jasper used a spear to know him out again. So, we came back, and you know the rest."

Hhmm. Jasper never ceases to amaze me. "Wow. Very traumatic. At least you're okay."

"He isn't."

"I feel for you O, but he was going to let Finn die."

"I know. It's just…I don't think he wanted to hurt anybody. He saved my life. And I think he only stabbed Finn because he felt threatened."

"Maybe."

"Bellamy of course wanted to kill him. Said it was justice for our people dying. It's like he changed."

I agree.

"So what about you?"

I raise my eyebrows.

"Where were you coming from when we got to the gate?"

I contemplate lying, telling her that I was just out looking for her, and not doing that before my captivity. But I decide to tell her. "Fine, I'll tell you. But you have to answer this question honestly."

She nodded yes.

"The grounder. Do you like him?"

She scoffed. "No."

"O. You've defended him at every turn. And as horrible as Bellamy's torture was, you and I would be lying if the thought never crossed our minds of how insanely hot he was once his shirt was torn off. And did I mention the tattoos?"

"Oh my god." She rolls her eyes. Three seconds later covers her face with her hand and tries to hide her wild smile."

"Sure, I think he's hot. But I don't know if I like him yet. The only thing he's said to me was 'Thank you'."

"Fair enough." I laid on my back and take a deep breath. "I was with the grounder I met."

She opens her mouth, but smiles. "Sage?!"

"He saved me too…when I was searching for you. Some grounders tried to kill me, but he saved me. He told me about the grounders who attacked us, and about the people here on Earth."

"So…"

"I may have _some_ mixed feelings about him."

She laughed. "What's he like?"

"Well he's tall, dark, and handsome. I mean he's incredibly sexy, but like beautiful at the same time. He's like one of those Greek sculptures we've seen pictures of—beautiful face, muscular body. His voice is deep and raspy. He's always looking at me—like I'm the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. His name's Roan."

"Aww."

"Not funny." [pause] We _may_ have made out the second time we met. "

"Oh my gosh! How could you keep this from me?! Haha. It seems like you're crazy for each other…love at first sight."

I scoffed at her. " _Please._ It is _not_ love at first sight. Lust, maybe."

"So tonight, did you guys kiss again?"

"No. We just talked. He told me that people who've been after us are part of the Woods Clan. The Trigedasleng word for is Trikru, like tree crew literally."

"Trige- what?"

"Trigedasleng. That's the language they speak here. They know English and understand us, they just don't speak it."

"The grounder understood everything we said."

"Yeah. Pretty smart move."

"Yeah."

"What else did he say?"

"Roan said there are 12 clans total. He's part of Azgeda which is Ice Nation."

"Nation?"

"I know right. The reason Trikru is attacking us is because we are on their land."

"Understandable. Though it would suck if we all died after just getting here."

"Yeah."

"But for real though, do you seriously like him?

I sighed. "I don't know. Maybe. I—I feel like he cares about me. Doesn't want me to get hurt. But I can't help but feel like he's hiding things. My instinct is that I can trust him around me, but he's still dangerous. And that care he has for me doesn't extend to anyone else. Like, had I been with a group when the grounders tried to kill me, he would've done everything to protect me. But would gladly leave the others to die. As long as he got what he wanted."

She places her hand on my arm.

"You don't think he's using you? Even if his feelings for you are true?"

"I don't know. I guess I'll find out when shit hits the fan."

I breathed and closed my eyes. I was so tired. "Hey O?"

"Huh?"

"Can I tell you the rest tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"Night."

"Good night."


End file.
